The Hill News

Members of the House and Senate love to play the game of one step forward, two steps back; Republicans’ favorite role being the latter.  This game has been a part of American politics since our nation was formed, but when political decisions affect the life and death of Americans there is no excuse for putting politics before progress.
 
The current battle over the EPA’s Clean Air Act updates is the perfect example of putting politics before common sense progress. The issue boils down to this: big polluters don’t want updated clean air standards because they’d have to comply with them by cutting the amounts of dangerous toxics they emit into our air. Their pals in Congress agree and are busy at work blocking any updates to the Clean Air Act even though EPA research shows that the Clean Air Act prevents 160,000 early deaths each year, including hundreds of babies. The polluters prefer dumping unlimited carbon pollution and tons of deadly pollutants l! ike arsenic, ammonia, formaldehyde, mercury, dioxin and other harmful chemicals into the air â€" pollutants that poison our air and our water and aggravate asthma, and cause other respiratory and heart diseases. The Republicans’ insistent disregard for science and logic threatens our lives by allowing these silent killers to continue to poison our air and water, unchecked.

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